Cyclone-centrifuge separator



March 19, 1968 P. KOMPERT CYCLONE-CENTRIFUGE SEPARATOR I Filed Oct. 12, 1965 INVENTOR Paul Komperf United States Patent 3,373,874 CYCLONE-CENTRIFUGE SEPARATOR Paul Kompert, Stockholm, Sweden, assignor to Alta-Laval AB, Stockholm, Sweden, a corporation of Sweden Filed Oct. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 495,041 Claims priority, application Sweden, Oct. 14, 1964, 12,349/ 64 Claims. (Cl. 210-261) ABSTRACT or THEIDISCLOSURE A centrifuge rotor has one end provided with an inlet disposed at the rotor axis, the rotor also having an-outlet for centrifugally cleaned liquid; and a cyclone has a tangential inlet for liquid to be cleaned and an outlet for liquid cleaned by the cyclone action. The cyclone has a narrow end on which the centrifuge rotor is journalled for rotation and which forms a second outlet for material separated from the liquid by the cyclone action; and releasable means are provided to clamp the cyclone and rotor together with said second outlet of the cyclone opening into said axial inlet of the rotor.

T he disclosure This invention relates to liquid cleaners comprising both a cyclone and a centrifuge, and in which the component discharged from the cyclone, enriched with sludge, is cleaned in the centrifuge. Among the uses of such liquid cleaners is for the cleaning of oil used for the lubrication of internal combustion engines, where the oil is pumped from an oil pan to the engine from which it flows back down into the pan. The so-called oil cleaner in this case is inserted between the pressure side of the pump and the engine.

In the known cases where an oil cleaner of the abovementioned type has been used, it consisted of separate casings for the cyclone and the centrifuge as well as a connecting member between these casings, which member contained through-flow channels to both casings. The oil cleaner was voluminous and heavy, and an object of the present invention is to provide a compact and light-weight liquid cleaner at low manufacturing cost.

The object of the present invention is attained by a structure in which the narrow end of the cyclone is turned toward one of the ends of the centrifuge, and the outlet at the narrow end of the cyclone opens into an axial inlet in said rotor end. With this arrangement, the component discharged from the cyclone, which is enriched with sludge and is to be cleaned in the centrifuge, has to travel only a short way to the centrifuge. This allows a compact construction in the axial direction of the cyclone and the centrifuge. The desired compactness may be further increased by extending the narrow end of the cyclone axially a distance into the centrifuge rotor and axially displacing the central portion of said rotor end a corresponding distance. By enclosing the cyclone and the centrifuge rotor in a common casing, one also obtains the advantage of a light-weight liquid cleaner. The outlet of the centrifuge rotor for cleaned liquid preferably opens directly into this casing, whereby a special collecting chamber for the liquid becomes superfluous.

In the preferred structure, a rod passing coaxially through the cyclone and the centrifuge rotor serves to maintain them in a simple way in their proper positions in relation to each other. The centrifuge rotor may be arranged so as to be rotatable around a tube which is coaxial to the rod and clamped against the narrow end of the cyclone by means of said rod. The wall of this tube may be provided with holes which serve as an inlet to the centrifuge rotor for the liquid discharging from the narrow end of the cyclone. It is then also possible to provide a clearance between the rod and the inside of the tube, which clearance more exactly has an annular crosssection and serves as a supply channel for the liquid flowing from the narrow end of the cyclone towards the tube holes.

To facilitate assembly and disassembly, the casing is preferably made in two parts which are maintained clamped against each other by the aforementioned rod. The centrifuge rotor must occasionally be removed from the casing to clean out the sludge accumulated in it, and in order to allow an easy removal of the rotor, one of the parts of the casing has essentially the same axial extension as the centrifuge rotor.

The liquid cleaner according to the invention is intended to be used, for example, for cleaning lubrication oil in trucks. In order to ensure good accessibility of the centrifuge rotor in the engine compartment, it is preferable to arrange the cleaner so that the centrifuge rotor is located above the cyclone. This arrangement allows an easy removal of the centrifuge rotor from the engine compartment in order to be cleaned. The cyclone, on the other hand, does not require any cleaning and therefore its accessibility is of less importance.

The invention is described more in detail below, reference being made to the attached drawing in which the single illustration is an axial sectional view of a lubrication oil cleaner embodying an example of the invention.

In the drawing, reference numeral 1 designates the upper part and 2 the lower part of a casing which surrounds a centrifuge rotor-3 and a cyclone 4. From an oil pan (not shown) oil is pumped through a tangential inlet 5 into the cyclone. Reference numeral 6 designates the outlet for oil cleaned in the cyclone. An upwardly directed pipe stub 7 prevents polluted oil fed in through the inlet 5 from flowing directly into the outlet 6.

The casing part 2 is provided with an outlet 8 for oil cleaned in the centrifuge rotor 3. A rod 9 threaded at its upper end clamps both casing parts 1 and 2 against each other by means of a lower head 10 and an upper nut 11. When cleaning the centrifuge rotor, the nut 11 is unscrewed from the rod, so that the casing part 1 and the centrifuge rotor 3 can be lifted. A tube 15 is maintained clamped against the upper end of the cyclone 4 by means of bushings 12 and 13 as well as a nut 14 screwed onto the rod 9. A channel 16, annular in cross-section, is formed between the rod and the inside of the pipe 15, this channel leading from the upper end of the cyclone to holes 17 in the wall of the tube.

The centrifuge rotor is rotatable around the pipe or tube 15 by means of bearings 18 and 19 which are firmly secured to the rotor and thus glide against the outer surface of the pipe. The sliding surfaces are lubricated by oil entering the rotor through the holes 17. Oil cleaned in the centrifuge rotor is discharged through two diametrically opposed outlets, only one of which is shown at 20 since the two are identical. Each outlet 20' comprises a tube having an external bead 21 embedded in the rotor bottom 22. The tube 20 is provided at its lower end with an outlet nozzle 23 for cleaned oil, the nozzle 23 being directed in such way that the rotor is caused to rotate by reaction of a jet of oil discharging through the nozzle. Two diametrically opposed holes 24 are further provided in the wall of each tube 20, through which holes the oil cleaned in the rotor flows into the tube. The holes 24 are located at such a height that sludge cannot pass through them when the rotor is stopped, whereby the sludge drops down to the rotor bottom 22. The inside of the upper end of each tube 20 is threaded so that a bolt 25 may be screwed down into it. This arrangement makes Patented Mar. 19, 1968.

it easy to clamp the rotor body 3 against its bottom 22 and to dismantle it when cleaning the rotor.

The oil cleaner operates as follows:

The oil to be cleaned is pumped from the oil pan (not shown) through the tangential inlet 5 into the cyclone 4 and fills the latter under pressure. A rotating motion of the oil thus develops in the cyclone whereby the sludge particles are separated and conveyed to the upper end of the cyclone along its conical wall. Cleaned oil is discharged at the center of the cyclone through the pipe stud 7 and fed under pressure to the lubrication points of the engine through the outlet 6. After having passed through the engine, the now polluted oil flows back into the oil pan. The fraction of the oil enriched with sludge in the cyclone 4 flows through the channel 16 and the holes 17 into the centrifuge rotor 3. Owing to the rotation of the rotor, the sludge is separated from the oil and collected on the peripheral wall of the rotor, while the cleaned oil is discharged through each tube 20 and its reaction nozzle 23 into the interior of the casings 1 and 2. From the latter, the oil passes through the outlet 8 and is further conveyed down into the oil pan. All the sludge formed in the lubrication oil is not removed from the system until the centrifuge rotor is cleaned.

The rotor 3 starts to rotate due to the fact that the rotor is completely filled with oil under pressure the latter generating jets discharging through the nozzles 23.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the parts 13 and 15 form means supported on the narrow end of the cyclone 4 and mounting the rotor 3 for rotation about its axis; the parts 9, 12 and 14 form releasable means clamping the cyclone and such rotor mounting means together; and the nozzle 23 forms a means for rotating the rotor on its mounting means.

I claim:

1. A liquid cleaner comprising a centrifuge rotor rotatable about an axis and having opposite ends, the rotor having an axial inlet at one of said ends and also having an outlet for centrifugally cleaned liquid, a cyclone having a tangential inlet for liquid to be cleaned and an outlet for liquid cleaned by the cyclone action, the cyclone also having a narrow end which forms a second outlet for material separated from the liquid by the cyclone action, means supported on said narrow end and mounting the rotor for rotation about said axis, means for rotating the rotor on said mounting means, and releasable means clamping the cyclone and rotor mounting means together; said second outlet, said axial inlet of the rotor and said mounting means being so constructed that material flows from said second outlet through said axial inlet and mounting means into said rotor.

2. A liquid cleaner according to claim 1, in which said narrow end of the cyclone extends axially into the centrifuge rotor a certain distance, the central portion of said one rotor end being axially displaced from said one end a corresponding distance.

3. A liquid cleaner according to claim 1, comprising also a casing common to said rotor and cyclone and surrounding the rotor and cyclone.

4. A liquid cleaner according to claim 1, comprising also a casing common to said rotor and cyclone and surrounding the rotor and cyclone, the rotor having a cleaned liquid outlet leading directly into the casing.

5. A liquid cleaner according to claim 1, in which said releasable means include a rod passing through said rotor and cyclone and holding them in coaxial relation to each other.

6. A liquid cleaner according to claim 1, in which said releaseable means include a rod passing through said rotor and cyclone and holding them in coaxial relation to each other, said mounting means including a tube clamped by the rod against the narrow end of the cyclone said tube being coaxial to the rod, the rotor being rotatable about the tube.

7. A liquid cleaner according to claim 1, in which said releaseable means include a rod passing through said rotor and cyclone and holding them in coaxial relation to each other, said mounting means including a tube clamped by the rod against the narrow end of the cyclone, said tube being coaxial to the rod, the rotor being rotatable about the tube, the tube having a wall provided with a hole forming an inlet to the rotor for liquid discharged from the narrow end of the cyclone.

8. A liquid cleaner according to claim 1, in which said eleasable means include a rod passing through said rotor and cyclone and hold them in coaxial relation to each other, said mounting mean including a tube clamped by the rod against the narrow end of the cyclone, said tube being coaxial to the rod, the rotor being rotatable about the tube, the tube having a wall provided with a hole forming an inlet to the rotor for liquid discharged from the narrow end of the cyclone, the rod and tube defining between them a channel for supplying liquid from the narrow end of the cyclone to said tube hole.

9. A liquid cleaner according to claim 1, comprising also a casing common to said rotor and cyclone and surrounding the rotor and cyclone, said casing comprising two parts, said releasable means including a rod passing through said rotor and cyclone and holding them in coaxial relation to each other, and means coacting with said rod for clamping said casing parts togeher.

10. A liquid cleaner according to claim 1, comprising also a casing common to said rotor and cyclone and surrounding the rotor and cyclone, said casing comprising two parts, said releasable means including a rod passing through said rotor and cyclone and holding them in coaxial relation to each other, and means coacting with said rod for clamping said casing parts together, one of said casing parts having substantially the same axial extent as the centrifuge rotor.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,087,645 4/ 1963 Eddy et a1. 22063 3,189,180 6/1965 Scott et al. 210259 X FOREIGN PATENTS 539,340 4/1957 Canada. 1,029,322 3/ 1953 France.

SAMIH N. ZAHARNA, Primary Examiner.

REUBEN FRIEDMAN, Examiner.

F. SPEAR, Assistant Examiner. 

